


Analgaesia

by dirty_diana



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Canon Compliant, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Kissing, Marriage, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Time Travel, meeting yourself from the future, slow down the Force is trying to tell you something, the Force is confusing and so is love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-07-18 00:17:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19965601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirty_diana/pseuds/dirty_diana
Summary: Rey goes on a quest to find a path to breaking the Force bond she shares with Kylo Ren. There are unexpected visitors in more ways than one, and a trip to a future neither Kylo Ren or Rey have ever imagined.Also the one where Rey and Ben have a lot of conversations in the dark.





	Analgaesia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ambiguously](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/gifts).



> married couple trying to matchmake past selves who hate each other (for space idiot values of matchmaking, obviously). Enjoy!
> 
> thanks to saiditallbefore for the beta.
> 
> If you're sensitive to animal things, there's a content note in end notes.

Rey swept the hilt of her lightsaber through the warm, recycled air of her small bunk on the Falcon. There was hardly enough room to maneuver her own body, so she moved cautiously, hefting the weight of the handle that had become so familiar to her as the blade buzzed.

There would have been more room elsewhere on the ship, but she'd been keeping to herself lately, as much as she could. It couldn't be helped. Despite her growing power in the Force, there were certain things that Rey couldn't seem to control. 

As if summoned by her drifting thoughts, Rey could sense the bond sparking to life, but she didn't turn around. She continued as she had been, practising simple forms with her saber in her grasp. She could feel the Force presence like a touch, and she knew he must be there, standing silently behind her like a ghost.

Rey didn't turn around or say a single word of greeting. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Her visitor didn't speak either. Knowing, she was certain, that his silence would get under her skin. Her concentration wavered, her Force connection with the energy of her blade dissipating.

She whirled on her heel in the standard turn of one of the forms, her eyes taking in the projection of Kylo Ren. He stood motionless inside the small bunk, his hands folded behind his back. In the small space, it seemed to Rey that he was standing right next to her. As if she should be able to feel his breath on her neck. 

She thumbed her blade off, taking a handful of steps backwards. Her back crashed against the bulkhead. Rey was forced to step forward again, scowling deeply. She was irritated with herself for displaying her uneasiness.

Kylo Ren watched her with dark, knowing eyes. It was a strange relief when he finally spoke. "You're improving."

Of all the condescending--Rey clamped down on a surge of anger. "You'll soon get to see for yourself." Her words, meant to be a threat, instead came out sounding wistful and sad.

"I hope so."

What did that mean? Rey stepped forward, the arm that held her saber extending forward in a decisive thrust. Kylo Ren blinked but didn't move. She could have re-ignited the blade and driven it through his gut. 

If he'd really been here. Instead Kylo Ren was lightyears away with the First Order's flagship. Since Snoke's death the bond had been increasingly unpredictable, yet it refused to die entirely. Eight months since she'd faced Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base, since she'd first felt the awareness that something strange was happening, the Force continued to toy with them both. Rey found herself afraid to wonder if it would bind them for the rest of their lives. 

If she let it.

"Don't just stand there!" she yelled, just as the door to her bunk slid open. Finn was standing frozen in the open doorway, looking at her in confusion.

Kylo had vanished.

"Sorry?" Finn said uncertainly.

"It's nothing," Rey said, shrugging her shoulders in apology. "I mean, you didn't do anything."

Many of the members of the reformed Rebellion were, by now, used to finding Rey alone, talking to herself. She wasn't sure what they thought it meant, and didn't dare to ask. Maybe they simply thought the girl from Jakku was losing her mind. That the mysterious and invisible Force was finally driving her mad.

Rey put down her lightsaber. She gathered up the best smile she could manage, but from his still-cautious expression she knew Finn found it unconvincing.

"Hyperspace route is set. Escorts are ahead of us," he said, and she nodded. 

"Okay."

"You sure about this? There's still time to return to the rest of the fleet."

They'd launched their mission hours ago, in the middle of the base's planetary night. Leia would be relieved to see them back so soon. The general had approved Rey's suggestion only reluctantly, and Rey knew she still didn't understand.

Finn didn't entirely understand either. Neither did Poe, or Rose. Yet they were all here on the fringes of Wild Space, based on only her word. 

Rey felt a surge of affection. She smiled again, genuine this time. "I'm sure. I mean, thank you."

It was strange to have people that trusted her completely, after so many years of being alone.

It made her dishonesty feel ten times worse, but Rey told the truth now. As much as she could. "I've read all the texts," she said. The parts she could make out, not obscured by time or words of a dialect that predated Basic. "And searched the databanks. I'm sure that where we're going, it's the right place."

"To find a weapon that will defeat the First Order," Finn said. He sounded hopeful, as he always did.

"It will neutralise Kylo Ren." She didn't say _defeat_. If Finn caught the distinction, he didn't say so.

"Seems like a longshot," Finn said, finally, and she knew he was thinking of his disastrous trip to Canto Bight. Then he brightened. "But we've got you, this time."

Rey nodded. Everything she'd done since she met an unaccompanied BB droid in the desert had been a longshot, a convergence of the most unlikely circumstances. There was, she supposed, no reason to hesitate now.

*

She was in the Falcon cockpit when the ship dropped out of hyperspace. Rose was there too, squinting at the readings, then glaring at the view through the canopy. The handful of X-wings that completed their small group had arrived a few seconds ahead of them.

"Doesn't look like much," Rose said. The planet was a brown-green sphere, with no patches of blue that Rey could see from their position in orbit.

Rey squinted at the sight below. "Is there water?"

Rose nodded. "Most of it's underground, according to the scans. But I think I found your Jedi temple. West of a forest you said, right? There's a huge forest to the north, and then some kind of unnatural structure on the edge." 

"Then that's where we'll land," Rey said decisively. "Poe? You guys okay?"

One of the X-Wings came up on her starboard side, doing a short, tight roll as if in greeting. "All clear. But I'd love if we could get this over with. This part of space is full of smugglers and bandits."

"That's why we brought you," Rose pointed out. She grinned at Rey. "I can't believe I'm on a real, live, Jedi mission. This is so cool. Hang on!" she added, punching the controls, and then the Falcon was diving, heading towards planetfall.

*

Rey headed back to her bunk to retrieve her lightsaber. The few days she'd had with Luke Skywalker had been mostly confusing, but she thought she'd understood his message. The Jedi were simple conduits of the Force, and all Rey could hope was that it wasn't steering her wrong.

This time.

She entered her room, and stopped short.

"Twice in one day, just my luck," she muttered. Kylo Ren didn't take his eyes off her, watching as she grabbed for her lightsaber and the small pack that she'd prepared.

"Going on a trip?" In his low, scratching voice, his words didn't quite form a question.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she shot back.

He said nothing. She stepped forward to grab the faded Rebel uniform jacket she'd taken to wearing, and collided unexpectedly with solid muscle.

She thought she could feel his breath, this time.

Rey leaped backwards as if she had been burned. The Force connection wasn't strong enough to allow them to interact, had only done so one other time since Snoke died. But maybe…

"You're close," she said in realisation.

His eyes kindled with something unreadable, then dimmed again. "No. What would we be doing in Wild Space?"

Surprised, Rey was too slow to catch her reaction. Her mouth dropped in shock. She took a breath, trying to school her face. "Shut the kriff up."

He shrugged. He enjoyed making her uneasy, she knew that. He had from the first time they met. As if all this were a game. As if the lives that hung in the balance around them were meaningless.

Her anger flamed within her again. But just now she didn't have time for his games.

Rey backed out of the small crew quarters and ran full speed towards the bridge.

*

"Poe," she said breathlessly into the cockpit's communication panel. "We're landing."

"Yeah?" Poe sounded confused. "We'll be watching your six from orbit. Just like we agreed."

Rey shook her head. "No, you can't. The First Order's coming. Right now." She could hear Finn and Rose shifting in alarm, but couldn't split her attention to glance at them.

There was a pause on the comm transmission. "Okay," Poe said finally, "I'm not even going to ask how you know that. But right now there's no sign of--shit."

"Poe?" Rose asked tentatively.

"TIE. It blew right past to the other side of the planet. I'm not even sure it saw me."

"Just one?" Finn asked.

"Yeah. Just the one," Poe said.

The whole team fell silent as Rey thought that over. Everyone knew that TIE fighters were never far from the carriers that brought them long distances. If there was one TIE, more had to be close behind, and a fleet of larger ships besides.

"You have to leave before they get here," Rey said. "You can't take on a whole squadron by yourselves, never mind a dreadnought."

"I'm not leaving," Poe insisted.

"You have to. With any luck, maybe they'll leave when they realise the rest of the fleet isn't here. They won't think to look for just us, and if they do there's plenty of cover down here."

They'd broken through the clouds. The Falcon flew easily, skimming a surface covered in trees that had grown too tall to see past them to the ground.

"Sure," Poe scoffed. "Or maybe they're just waiting for us to leave so they can turn all their guns at you. Rey, this is not the plan."

Beside her, Finn and Rose snickered audibly.

"Okay, I'm not a big planner. That's how I know this one is terrible, okay? This area is still full of pirates, and--"

Rey cut him off. "Poe! We don't have time for this. Just trust me."

"Aye," Poe said finally, grudgingly. She could hear him directing the three other X-Wings to withdraw, and their pilots agreeing to follow his retreat. "We'll be back in twenty-four hours. Then First Order or not, we're coming to get you."

"We'll be ready," Rey said. She could already feel the malevolent energy radiating from deep inside the planet, something like what she'd felt under the ground on Ahch-To. She didn't want to stay here any longer than absolutely necessary.

"Maybe we should do the same thing. Turn around," Finn suggested. "We can come back later, when it's safe."

Rose spoke up before Rey could answer. She didn't look up, most of her concentration still focused on landing the ship. "No. If the First Order is here, they must be looking for the weapon. We can't let them get it. Right?"

"Right," Rey agreed gratefully.

They parked the Falcon in the shadow of a jutting rock formation, hopefully enough to shield them from view at first glance. Finn patted her on the shoulder in congratulations.

"That was great. I bet even Poe couldn't have landed it better."

"I'll make sure to tell him you said that," Rose said, but she was smiling.

Rey hesitated at the top of the gangway before Rose or Finn could move to follow her.

"I think I should go alone," she said, braced for the flurry of disagreement that followed.

"No way!" Finn said. He sounded horrified. "I don't care if this is some Jedi thing, I'm not letting you do this by yourself, with the First Order and who knows what else out there. Kylo Ren could be out there." This last he whispered, as if the Supreme Leader himself could be summoned out of nowhere by the use of his name.

"I'm not scared of Kylo Ren," Rey said, but she could see from the twin expressions on her friends' faces that she was fighting a losing argument.

"I'll stay with the ship," Rose said. As Finn looked worriedly at her, she smiled at him, giving him a warm look of encouragement. "You go take care of Rey. I'll be fine. May the Force be with you!"

*

The pair made their way on foot, tracing their way around the low wall of weather-chiseled rock. For a long time Finn was silent, letting Rey feel her way to where she knew the formation must have an opening. She could sense it, just as she could feel the Dark Side pricking her the edges of her awareness in invitation. Then her hand hit a gap in the rock, one so well-hidden she might have missed it if she hadn't been looking for it. Rey took one last glance in the direction of the Falcon, took a deep breath, and slipped through.

Finn followed.

*

The cavern was dark, and Rey instantly stumbled, her footing wobbling on a path she couldn't see. It seemed to lead on a steep angle downwards. She pulled a small hovertorch from her pack, using it to light the way directly in front of her. The light floated off the ground just above her head, throwing eerie shadows and dark shapes in all directions. With her path clearer, Rey continued moving. Finn followed her.

"Careful. It's steep here."

Focused on her progress, Rey could feel rather than see Finn nodding. "So, this weapon. What does it look like, exactly?"

Rey felt the guilt pricking at her again as she answered. "It could look like anything. Jedi documents aren't very specific. About anything, really."

"Then how will we know when we've found it?" 

Rey was quiet for a moment. She continued carefully picking her way downward. The path had begun to twist in long, lazy curves, and the wall of rock on both sides of her had begun to narrow. The Dark Side was still scratching at her senses, growing thicker and more present with every passing minute. Unconsciously Rey reached to idly touch her lightsaber. She forced herself to let it go of it again. "We'll know," she said, hoping it was true. She stopped.

They'd reached a wall. The area opened up enough for them to stand beside each other, but there seemed to be the end of the forward path. Rey reached up to touch the stretch of rock that she was facing. It was cool and smooth.

Finn tapped his palm against the stone barrier in frustration. "This can't be it."

"Maybe I can cut through it," Rey said, stretching her words out doubtfully.

"What's this?" Finn pointed to a square impression in the rock, one that seemed too precise to be natural. Rey reached up, pressing her hand into the space. 

Higher up on the rock face, lines in the dark stone seemed to glow under the torch light.

Rey eyed the outlines that seemed to take on vaguely recognisable shapes in the darkness, frowning. "Does that look like anything to you?"

"Maybe?" Finn leaned closer. "Is that a spider?"

Upon closer examination, they'd both decided that the faintly glowing drawing did resemble a spider, its eight legs sticking out below its round body. It was etched into a square depression in the rock that was roughly the same size as the first. The next set of lines represented nothing so much as a krayt dragon, small triangles as sharp shards of bone jutting out from its back. The third, neither of them could be certain.

"It's just a circle, I think. Does that mean anything?"

Rey shook her head uncertainly. "I don't know. But I think it's a password?"

"Oh." Finn eyed the symbols, his gaze shifting back and forth before he looked upwards. They'd come too far down to see even a sliver of sunlight through the opening shaft. "But we don't have the password."

"No, we don't."

"What if we get it wrong?"

Rey didn't know the answer. She gripped her lightsaber, just in case. Then she stretched out her left hand.

There was a sound like rolling thunder, and the sensation of something moving underneath them. Stone scraped against stone as the barrier reformed itself, creating a gap wide enough to be a doorway. Both of them hurried through. The gate seemed to close immediately. This cavern was as dark as the first, but much larger. Finn and Rey both nudged their torches upwards, but the ceiling and the distant wall both remained far out of view.

"I didn't know the Jedi liked puzzles," Finn muttered, casting a glance back in the direction they had come.

"I think the Jedi abandoned this place a long time ago. The Sith used it after that." The fact hadn't been in any of her research, and she hadn't known it until she'd said it. But it seemed obvious now, as the Dark Side pressed in on her like a weight.

"Which way?" Finn asked.

Rey took a breath, then another. She tried to feel her way, as she had before. Before she could identify any clues from the flow of the Force, she could sense something else entering on the fringe of her awareness. Something heavy, familiar.

Or someone.

She felt his approach before she saw the stone moving. She thought for a moment that perhaps the bond had opened, again disturbing her with Ben's hollow presence at the least convenient moment.

The doorway opened, and Kylo Ren stepped through. In his usual suit of black, he was momentarily indistinguishable from the darkness. Their eyes met, and a shock ran through Rey as she realised.

He was really here. 

She couldn't help grabbing Finn's arm. The part of her that would always be, maybe, just a little relieved to see the newcomer in front of her, was pushed down and ruthlessly ignored. She'd given him a chance. That time was gone.

"What are you doing here?" Rey shouted. The sound seemed to amplify as it bounced off all sides of the cave, magnifying her nervousness.

Kylo strode in a straight line towards her. Finally he stopped a few paces away from her, near enough for his closed expression to be visible in the torch light. He cocked his head. "What are you doing here?" he asked. His teeth and tongue bit down subtly on the question as he shot it back at her. As if he already knew the answer.

Rey stared at him. She still didn't know if she'd given away her destination across the Force bond, or some other way. Perhaps the First Order had spies. The thought unsettled her.

Finn answered for her. He was wearing a blaster in its holster at his waist, and now his fingers were wrapped solidly around the grip. "We're not going to let you get the weapon. So you might as well just leave."

Kylo had barely acknowledged Finn's presence, yet this seemed to make him hesitate. He stared at Rey, frowning. "What is he talking about?"

"The Jedi weapon." Finn raised his voice, waving his hand in the air. At some point he'd drawn his blaster, and it glinted as Finn motioned with it.

Kylo tracked the movement without reaction, as understanding finally sparked in Kylo Ren's shadowed eyes. "You haven't told him anything. You're not here for a weapon. You're here to try to break our bond."

There was silence among all three of them for a moment.

"Rey?" Finn asked. Uneasiness made his voice waver. "What bond?"

"Oh, you haven't told him anything." Kylo Ren's flat voice lifted slightly. For once he sounded oddly pleased. "About how the Force still binds us? About how you carry me with you everywhere you go?"

"Shut up!" Rey shouted. Her words echoed and lingered once more. She looked at Finn. "There could be weapons down here. There could be anything. The texts weren't clear."

Rey could see Finn's mind racing, working it out. She hadn't told him her true reasons, or anything of the Rebels. Perhaps Leia suspected. But Rey had told herself that they wouldn't understand. "Everywhere you go. Everywhere the Resistance goes?" he asked her. Plaintively asking her to deny it.

"It doesn't work like that. I can't control it." Rey stepped forward towards Kylo Ren. Gripping onto the Force, trying to ignore the shards of the Dark Side that eagerly tried to come with it. Her right thumb swept the pommel of her lightsaber. "Are you here to stop me?"

Kylo Ren shrugged, not quite looking at her. He seemed resigned. "If you want to be rid of me, there's an easier way."

"Stay back," Finn warned him.

Kylo Ren continued to ignore the pointing barrel of Finn's lightsaber. His next words were the only sign that he'd heard him at all. "He shouldn't be here. This place is only for us. People like us." He had begun advancing ever so subtly forward.

Rey shook her head, as if denying it could stop what she knew was about to happen. "I didn't come here to fight you."

"But you came here to destroy the bond. To kill our connection. Doesn't it seem strange to be squeamish about the method?" He canted his head. The expression in his eyes was familiar, a mirror of the way he'd stared at her on the Supremacy. Partly curious and wondering, as if Rey were a puzzle he would never solve. Yet the everpresent film of dull anger remained.

For a moment, the connection of their gazes distracted her. 

Kylo Ren drew his saber and charged. Rey reacted in kind, pulling her lightsaber free and activating it as quickly as her reflexes would allow. There was a burning charge of power in the air as their blades met. She had dropped her torch, needing both hands on the hilt. Rey could still make out the dark shadows of his face in the red glow of his lightsaber as he held the contact of their blades, trying to force her backwards.

She held her ground, and Kylo Ren finally retreated. His lightsaber was still extended, its blade pointed at her throat. Finn was yelling something, but Rey knew he wouldn't be able to fire his blaster in these conditions. Low light, with their bodies moving quickly, and a real danger of accidentally hitting his friend instead. But she couldn't stop to listen to Finn's words. As it always did in a fight, her world narrowed and slowed. It became just the opponent in front of her, and the information she was receiving from the Force. The connection to the power of her lightsaber, and the slight nudge of warning that let her evade Kylo Ren's parrying motions.

Maybe even more. She reached out in the Force to find Ben's mind, just as he'd unwittingly taught her when she'd been captured. His thoughts were jumbled, a seething mess. She stubbornly held on, trying to pick through. She didn't understand why he'd come down here, and forced her into this fight.

"Don't," Kylo Ren growled dangerously. His chest heaved with anger. He ran forward, the Force propelling him with unlikely speed.

"No!" Finn shouted.

Rey pivoted, only just managing to edge out of the path of his charge. The thinly-angled collision was still enough to knock her off balance. Rey recovered quickly. She thrust out with her lightsaber.

He hissed in pain through gritted teeth. She'd struck his upper arm, cutting through his black shirt. It was a clean strike across the bicep. Now he was bleeding.

Rey readied herself to face another charge. Instead Kylo Ren simply lifted a hand, closing it into a fist of air as he gripped the Force at the same time. She could feel his power trying to drag her towards him. She would be helpless, and in range of a lightsaber blow. She felt for the shape of his own body in the Force, and pushed back.

For a moment, time seemed frozen. Twin sides of the Force, light and dark, pushed against each other. Kylo Ren's eyes glinted with the effort.

In the next moment, the Force swirling around them changed. Rey fought to hold on as she felt something new. Something invisible, a perverted version of the dark Force energy she'd been able to sense at the mouth of the cavern. It seemed to join the fight, intervening between them, pushing not in her direction or in his, but outward, further into the dark cave.

Kylo Ren's mouth opened in an unmistakable expression of surprise, and she knew he felt it too.

He let the hand holding his lightsaber fall to his side. "Let go!" he yelled.

She knew he was right. The power was about to overwhelm them both. But she couldn't give in to him now. Not after everything.

She could hear Finn shouting, make out the panic that laced his words. The world tilted, and they were both dragged forward without warning. Rey gasped for breath, still trying to pull loose. The space around Rey turned black and unsteady, as if she were free-falling through space.

Everything disappeared. 

*

When Rey woke up, she was in a small, round cave room. Her lightsaber lay beside her on the ground, just out of reach. Rey pressed her lips together. Her mouth was dry.

Slowly, Rey began to pull herself upright, bracing herself, with her hands against the ground. She could tell by the familiar stone underneath her and the dank, close smell of the cave air that she was still underground. Yet she could see, Rey realised suddenly. She propped herself up and looked around.

Instantly meeting the eyes of Kylo Ren. She mumbled a curse of surprise. Kylo Ren sat on the ground, still and unmoving just a few metres in front of her. A circle of light hovered in front of his dark uniform, and the white glare shone in her eyes. She lifted one hand to her eyes to shield herself from the glare, scrambling backwards and away from him as she reached for her lightsaber. Her back bounced against the wall of her cave, and she froze, unable to go any further. Kylo Ren was still close enough to strike. Or to be struck. For a moment neither of them moved.

"What happened?" she asked him, finally.

Kylo shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know. There was some sort of rift in this place. In the Force."

Rey nodded, remembering, as Kylo finished.

"Then I ended up here. With you."

His calm, flat words, as if he hadn't just been trying to kill her, irritated her instantly. "You didn't just end up here. You followed me here! To try to kill me!"

Kylo's brows knotted together in a sign of confusion, as if he didn't quite understand her words. He said nothing. 

Her eyes narrowed at the strange reaction. Rey's eyes went to the sleeve of his shirt. Suddenly woven and and whole again. She scowled in distrust, as the faint feeling of wrongness that had been scratching her since she woke up grew stronger. "I cut you," she said.

Kylo only looked more puzzled. "That was a long time ago," he said.

"I cut you," Rey repeated, "and we fell. The Force pushed us through something. I couldn't see it, but it felt like a doorway. Did it heal you?" Knowing even as she spoke that the chaotic energy that had surged around her had no interest in healing, or helping, anyone.

Silently Kylo glanced down at the shoulder she'd indicated. His movement caused him to lean towards the light, enough for her to see that the cloth that covered his arm was whole, as if it had never been burned.

When he spoke again, it wasn't to respond to any of the things she'd just said. She wondered if Kylo Ren, even this version that she was increasingly beginning to doubt was real, would ever learn the trick to having a real conversation. "I could tell that you didn't seem to be my Rey, but I didn't know any more than that. Either way I couldn't leave you." His lips pulled together in concentration as he considered the problem. "But obviously you've come through the Force. How far?"

He'd moved closer. Too close. Rey lifted her lightsaber, thumbing the blade into action. She held it towards him, trying to ignore the way her hands were shaking.

Kylo Ren didn't move. His hands remained motionless in front of her. There was a sudden lift of recollection in his eyes. "Ah. That far back, then." 

"You're not making any sense." Suddenly it seemed worse, being here with someone who was apparently a stranger, looking at her with a face she knew but expressions she didn't recognise. Maybe just a Force trick. A new and unexpected way for the Force to challenge her.

"Where's Kylo Ren?" she demanded, voice rising in an unexpected flash of panic. She was effectively alone here. "Did you hurt him? Where's Finn?"

"You brought Finn here?" the Kylo-vision asked her in surprise.

"He insisted. I--I came to break the bond." She didn't know why she was admitting this to a Force vision.

The vision shifted again. Rey found herself rooted in place, unwilling to move. The Kylo-vision's fingers closed over her own, over the hand still holding her weapon. His skin was warm. His eyes met hers, seeming clear and unafraid. She wondered if her Ben, the real Ben, would ever look like that. Instead of terrified of everything and more scared to admit it, in a way Rey herself only ever seemed to make worse.

Rey pushed the thought from her head. Slowly the Kylo Ren in front of her switched off the lightsaber. The blade retreated into the shaft. Still, Rey didn't move.

"I know," he said. His voice was flat and careful as he watched her. "It's why you came last time. But Finn wasn't with you, that time."

She blinked at that. He wasn't the Kylo Ren who'd just chased across the galaxy to face her here, or making any sense. But he seemed substantial enough. She stretched out her hand, fingers extended, reaching slowly outwards until she came in contact with his chest. He was solid, and breathing in and out underneath her touch. Startlingly real, for an apparition.

The Kylo-vision let her touch him in silence, then he spoke again. "Are you injured? I'd like to find a way out of here. Your friend is probably right where you left him, if we can get back there. And I'd really like to find my wife." He almost whispered the last word, looking at her through lowered eyelids. As if he were nervous.

"Your wife?" Rey repeated in confusion.

The Kylo-vision nodded.

She thought it over frantically. She wanted to find Finn. But she knew that Finn could take care of himself, and had managed without her many times. If the portal they'd fallen through had actually brought her closer to her goal, then she didn't want to give up just yet.

She still needed to break the bond. And if there was someone else who'd fallen down here with him, perhaps she needed Rey's help. Rey took a breath. "Okay. We can work together. For now."

Something touched the Kylo-vision's lips that was almost the curve of a smile. "That's what you said last time," he said. 

*

Kylo Ren swam back into consciousness, and Rey was touching him. His mind flashed back to their fight of just moments ago, and he froze, making himself ready to draw on the Dark Side. Yet her hands on him were gentle, not threatening. He could sense no hint of coming violence from her, or even wariness, and that confused him the most.

"Oh, you're awake," Rey said. She made no move to get away from him. She'd pulled away the burned, ripped cloth where her lightsaber had struck him, and was dabbing at the raw flesh with something in her hand. "It's not that bad. I'm sure I have a bacta dressing we can use."

She continued to minister his wound. Kylo winced at the pain, and instantly felt ashamed of his visible weakness. Rey glanced away from her work for a second, looking at his face, but didn't comment. "Rey."

Rey shook her head. Her eyes were affectionate. "I'm not your Rey. I mean, I am. But I think we both came in here at different times, years apart, and the Force sort of, um. Brought us together."

It sounded like the worst kind of holovid story. Yet Kylo looked at her, and knew that she was telling the truth.

His mind latched onto one of her words. "My Rey," he repeated.

"Yes."

She hadn't just referenced the Rey from his own time period, but herself. Kylo considered this, watching the small lines that formed around Rey's mouth as she concentrated on her work. "What does that mean?"

Her small smile was accompanied by a quick roll of her eyes. "Probably exactly what you want it to mean."

But that couldn't be, and Kylo shifted to cover his disquiet. He could tell by the flicker of Rey's gaze that she wasn't fooled. Her work finished, she patted his hand and stood.

"Well, we can't just stay here. I--other me--must be around here somewhere." She laughed lightly. There was something else she wasn't saying, Kylo thought, but he couldn't guess what. 

"She is." Now that he knew to look for it, he was certain he felt the faint glimmer in the Force that meant that she was nearby. He began to rise. 

Hesitation flooded him. He stopped, feeling as if he were choking. Rey looked at him curiously.

"I tried to kill her," he explained in a shamed whisper. "Just now. Above."

"That explains how you got hurt. I thought it looked like a lightsaber wound. Which I'm sure you deserved. Still," she added, when he hadn't moved. "You can't hide from her all the time."

That comment puzzled him more than any of the others. Kylo frowned. "I don't."

"Hmmn," Rey said noncommittally, and then she darted forward, moving out of the cave without checking to see if he was following.

*

The Kylo-vision was charging quickly through the web of narrow passages. Rey did her best to keep up, navigating sharp turns and the sloping ground in the darkness, following his bobbing light and the faint awareness of the Force. She still wasn't moving fast enough to keep up with Kylo's long legs, or the grim determination that showed in his stiff, angled posture.

"Kylo!" she shouted.

He didn't slow down, or even turn to look at her. Curiously, she could feel an odd shudder run through him. "You can call me Ben," he said.

That surprised her as much as anything had. Rey pulled up short, her mind stuttering over the unexpected announcement. "You've left Kylo Ren behind? But you said--" Her words stopped.

The sentence didn't have anywhere to go. Kylo Ren--Ben--was still moving with charged momentum through the darkness, forcing Rey to scramble to keep up.

She shouted again. "Slow down! We need a plan, or a sense of where we're going, or something."

In her distracted frustration, Rey tripped in the narrow passageway. Ben whirled, his hand shooting out to help right her. A frisson of surprise ran through her at the feel of Kylo's bare palm on her shoulder and the back of her. His grip was strong, his eyebrows drawn together in a fleeting impression of worry. Her initial surprise faded in an instant. Standing on her own, Rey pulled away.

Ben let her go without comment. She could hear budding irritation in his too-quiet voice as he paced each word out without comment. "I told you. We're going to find my wife."

"Yes, I heard you, but we don't actually know where she is, do we?"

"I always know where she is, " Ben said. It was a flash of the familiar Kylo Ren temper, his eyes flaring with an irritation that hadn't fully caught flame into anger.

Rey sighed. The oppressive sense of the Dark Side that had greeted her inside the underground structure still weighed on her. The underground maze seemed endless, and no amount of reaching out to the Force seemed to reveal any path to her. Left without any other obvious action to take, she gestured to Ben to keep moving.

She followed him, curiosity leading her to speak again. "We know why I'm down here, but why are you down here? Do you live down here?"

He shot her a sideways look of surprise. "Why would I live down here?"

"I don't know! How should I know what Force visions do when they're not making my life more difficult?" She waved her hands in dissatisfaction.

The perplexed expression repeated itself. On the usually closed features of Ben Solo, even the tiny movement read as an unexpected gesture of openness. "You think I'm a Force vision?"

"I have no idea what you are!"

"I told you, I'm Ben Solo. From the future." He said the last words over his shoulder as he kept moving.

"Okay," Rey said slowly. She didn't want to waste time arguing with either a Force vision or a time traveler. Whichever one this Ben turned out to be. "What about your wife? Is she from this planet?"

Another sidelong look. "No. She hates it here. It was my idea to return, and if we're trapped down here, well." His sentence ended, unfinished.

"You'll be in for it, I guess." 

Ben shrugged. 

"That's not fair of her. You can't have known," Rey objected, feeling indignant on Ben's behalf at the woman she'd never met. She wondered what someone who had married Ben would be like. Someone strong, if she'd really gotten Ben to leave his old life behind.

Ben cocked his head at her. He didn't speak, but faint amusement coloured the quiet.

He hesitated briefly at a fork in the path, where the rock jutted into a twisted formation. Ben turned to look at her as he paused. It was a reluctant concession to her earlier complaints. "She's that way." His voice was soft, but his words still didn't quite form an actual request for input.

"That's all very well, but that's not why I'm down here." Despite the complaint, Rey kept up with Ben as he chose his path and marched onward. They veered left.

"I know. You're on a fool's errand. It can't be broken." His words were certain, yet dismissive.

"You don't know that," Rey said.

"Yes. I do. You're not the first in an unwanted Force bond. But the only thing that will sever it is death." He stopped so abruptly that Rey almost crashed into him. He turned his attention from the path ahead, studying her face in the pale white light of his torch. "Is that what you want?"

Indignance coloured Rey's voice. "To die? Of course not."

"Then you want to kill him."

 _If you want to be rid of me, there's an easier way._ Kylo Ren's earlier words filtered back through her memory. The thought of their fight chilled her. "I don't really want that either, to be honest."

"You think there's still good in him," Ben murmured.

"I do. I've seen it more than once." A strident note of defiance crept into Rey's voice, the way it had when she'd argued the same case to Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To. "And I'm right, aren't I? If you're telling me you're him, and you gave it up. Then after everything, I'm right."

"This way," was all that Ben said to that after a long moment. They were descending steeply. The walls seemed to be marked, similarly to the first road block they'd encountered, but Ben didn't seem to be paying attention. Jagged rocks jutted from the floor, but he was heedless of those too, still driven by the pull of something she couldn't see.

Rey wanted to believe Ben's story, but the truth was that she didn't have a reason to. For all she knew the familiar face with careful eyes was a manifestation of the cave itself, designed to lure her further into a trap. The Dark Side energy remained omnipresent, unsettling, but at least there were no further surges like the one that had pulled them together.

Through time? Was that possible? Rey had read nothing of it in her studies, but she didn't doubt the Force's power to create any bridge it wished. In space, in time, or between souls. Rey let the conversation lapse into a disquieted silence.

*

In the darkness, something was growling. Rey flinched, checking in all directions for the invisible threat. She couldn't identify anything approaching with her eyes. She reached out with her other senses, but nothing seemed to be there. Still, she couldn't shake the sense that something was closing in on them.

Ben looked over at her inquisitively. One hand went to his lightsaber without drawing it.

She shook her head at him. For now, the danger held its distance. "Don't you hear it?"

"No," he said. "I don't--this place has never talked to me the way that it talks to y--to other people."

That meant that his wife had felt it, too. A Force-sensitive being? No wonder she didn't enjoy being in this place. Rey didn't find the knowledge reassuring. She shivered, listening out for further sounds of menace. For now, there was nothing, just an echo of the same Dark pressure that had brought them here.

"What is it saying?" Ben asked her.

"Nothing with words. But it feels like a warning. Like a growling animal, something protecting its den."

"I think between us we can take anything that lives down here," Ben said. He said it distractedly, as if he were thinking about something else.

"I'm sure your wife is fine, too," Rey said.

His gaze flickered towards her then away again, without admitting that she'd read him correctly. That he was worried. "Let's keep moving."

They only made it a short distance before they were brought to another stop. Before Rey heard it again. The vicious snarl raised goosebumps all over her body, sounding immeasurably closer this time. Instinctively she pulled her lightsaber free, holding the silver object in both hands like a ward.

"Ben?" she asked. She glanced away from him and behind her, in the direction of the noise.

Ignoring her, he'd pulled up to a dead stop. He tapped the torch to nudge it forward, throwing enough light for Rey to see that the path ahead was a dead end. Not a wall like the one that she'd encountered with Finn, but rather a dead drop down to an inky black chasm that seemed to lead nowhere.

Rey glanced back to ensure there was truly nothing sneaking up behind them. She didn't let go of her lightsaber. She moved to Ben's side, looking into the dark depths.

Ben uttered a wordless growl without looking at her. "This should be the way. I can feel it."

"Perhaps--" she began. She never had time to finish her sentence.

The threatening animal growl sounded once more, this time accompanied by the sound of heavy paws running full speed across the rocky floor. It was close enough this time for the threat in its Force presence to be clear.

_Kill._

Rey took a breath, swinging around as her saber ignited. She knew, without looking, that Ben was doing the same. Her eyes met ember-yellow cat eyes as the unknown animal charged. With dark fur and sharp-clawed paws, it resembled some sort of a large cat. Unmistakably the biggest she'd ever seen, enough that it would tower over both of them if it could rise onto its back legs. Bigger than any predator that lived on Jakku. Big, and fast. Rey reached for the Force, and swung her lightsaber. The animal leaped towards her with incredible speed, dodging the blow. Her strike only connected with air.

Pain flooded her entire body in a flash. The impact drove the breath from her lungs, pushing her almost to the edge of blacking out. Rey was falling, driven off the edge of the cliff she'd been staring at only moments before.

"Kriff, not again," she thought, aware enough to subdue her panic and grab hold of the Force in the very air around her. It slowed their descent, but only just enough. Rey hit the ground with an impact that jarred her bones hard enough to break. The animal was on top of her, large body pinning her completely. Claws dug into her skin. This time Rey had not lost her hold on her lightsaber. She squirmed, trying to find room to swing it upwards under the big cat's weight. She could still feel the animal's intentions, focused only on her.

 _Kill_..

There was a whooshing sound, then a soft thud, and she knew that Ben had landed beside her. He tossed his torch out of his way in order to put both hands on his weapon, and it hovered off towards a far wall, leaving the fight shrouded in mostly darkness. Rey blinked in surprise as his blade hissed and sparked into existence. It wasn't the red saber blade that she was used to, but a simple long blade, coloured a pale blue.

Seconds later, Ben drove the burning weapon through the big cat's left flank.

The animal yowled, tumbling from on top of Rey's prone form and evading the worst of Ben's strike. It retreated into the shadowed recesses of the deep well they were now in, but Rey could feel its snarling presence, and hear the laboured breathing of a wounded being.

"Get behind me," Kylo ordered her.

Rey drew herself up into a sitting position, clamping down on a curse as pain shot through her body. Her wrist was certainly injured, causing her to wince at the sharp, throbbing sensation. "I will not!"

"Rey," he said, managing a thin imitation of patience, as if he'd practised this conversation many times before. "You're injured. And it doesn't want me. It wants you."

Rey opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again. He was right, she realised. The animal had attacked her almost as if Ben wasn't there at all. Even now she could sense that all its attention was directed at her, sense the familiar ripple that disrupted the Force right before an enemy attacked.

Reluctantly she scrambled to a position a few steps behind him, her lightsaber extended in her good arm.

"I don't think it can feel me any better than I can feel it," Ben added, as casually as if he were making small talk.

"What? Wait!" Rey shouted, her voice shooting up into an alarmed pitch. Fighting without information from the Force would be like fighting blindfolded, especially for someone who had been using it his entire life. Especially in the dark. But Ben didn't hesitate. He waded into the fight with a grim determination. Not waiting for the animal to come out of the deepest shadows of the cave, he charged forward.

Rey got to her feet, ignoring the pain that stabbed her wrist like a knife, traveling all the way to her elbow. She clung to her lightsaber with her other hand, edging determinedly towards the fracas. She was just in time. Thee animal sprang towards her, an attack that she could sense just a millisecond before it sprang close enough to be seen. Rey snapped out the hand holding her lightsaber, forcing it backwards.

"Ben!" she shouted. She couldn't see him, not with her eyes. She could only make out the sharp glow of his moving lightsaber in the dark, but she could sense his presence. Then he was there, moving swiftly in front of her, swiping ferocious strokes at the animal from its other side.

The animal yowled, both pain and irritation at being distracted from its prey. The gash in its side dripped thick blood on the ground. Its jaws snapped, but it seemed uncertain maintaining its distance from the twin lightsabers.

 _I don't think it could sense me much better than I could sense it,_ Rey remembered. It was fighting half-blind, and so was Ben, but Ben at least had an additional weapon.

The Force swirled around her. She could feel it a second before the cat leaped, apparently deciding to tackle the being that was proving a nuisance, standing between it and its target. 

"Left!" she shouted, doing her best to send the instruction as a _feeling_ in the Force, as the animal lashed its claws in Ben's direction.

The cat moved in a blur of action, and so did Ben, following her instructions without a moment of hesitation.

"Down!" Rey crept forward, all her senses trained on the animal, prepared to defend herself if it struck again in her direction.

But they'd found the upper hand. Ben successfully countered the beast's attacks, as his lightsaber whirled in a flurry of motion. The animal screamed in pain as his lightsaber made contact, and still Ben struck forward, a determined grimace distorting his face.

This was nothing like the way he'd looked when they'd fought above, she realised. Kriff, it had been only an hour or two ago. That Ben had seemed resigned to the fight, even as he'd started it.

The Ben in front of her had a purpose to each of his strokes, his burning fury harnessed and targeted in only one direction. The strange cat made one last strike. Its yellow eyes were on fire with a matched rage as it turned towards her.

Rey called out, almost too slowly. Her voice was hoarse. She threw her saber, striking the animal in its neck. A second later, Ben drove his own lightsaber through the animal's torso, using so much weight that his body shook with the effort. The huge cat heaved one last breath and died with a tremulous gasp.

Rey opened her hand, calling her lightsaber back towards herself. The familiar weight snapped into her hand.

Ben moved towards her, skirting the fallen corpse to hover at her side. "Sit."

"I'm fine," Rey protested.

"You fell a hundred metres. You're bleeding. You'll let me look at you." This, too, had the feeling of a familiar argument. He stared at her, unyielding.

"I am fine," she repeated stubbornly. Then she sighed involuntarily. The adrenaline had rushed out of her body, leaving her head spinning. "But I will sit. For a second."

"Thank you." His voice quieted, and he sounded genuinely grateful.

Rey folded her legs underneath her, finding that the ground seemed to meet her quicker than she expected. She rested her back against the cold stone wall that bordered the well and stretched out into darkness.

Ben retrieved his torch, placing it on the ground next to them where it threw his face into bright relief. He crouched in front of her. Ben took her hand.

"I think it's only sprained." He sounded irritated. Was he angry at her…for getting injured? Rey found that just now she didn't have the strength to ask.

He turned his attention to where the animal's claws had struck her, ripping through the fabric of her pants and the skin underneath. She didn't think it was more than a scratch, but Ben still insisted on examining the shallow wounds. She watched as he rolled up her pant leg, cradling her limb gently. He sighed to himself, then applied a thin bacta treatment in silence.

She wanted to ask him about the lightsaber. Her gaze drifted to where he'd holstered it again, but the question seemed too personal, somehow. "I didn't know you could be good at this," she said instead.

He looked up at her questioningly, and she gestured towards his care.

He looked down at her limb in his hands, faintly surprised, then nodded. "If I have the timing right, then I don't think you really know me yet."

It seemed an odd thing to say, when she knew the bond had joined them together twice just that morning. Countless times in the past year, until Rey had become used to it. She knew that was dangerous. Rey turned the thought over, her mind catching on the last word as she did so. "Yet?" she repeated. Feeling silently, unexpectedly furious at the renewed bloom of hope in her chest. For Kylo Ren, who would be equally angry if he knew she still hoped for him.

Maybe she was still unconscious from her first fall and in the throes of a Force dream. Perhaps Ben was wrong, and the place that he came from bore no resemblance to what the Force had in store for her.

Ben had fallen silent as he worked. Now he spoke again. "And I'm not. Good at this. But I like making sure that you're safe."

The comment struck her as oddly flirtatious, flustering her. She drew her exposed calf back from his gentle grip. "Your wife won't like that," she said, trying for a joke.

"Rey," he said softly. Chiding. Almost a warning.

She'd known, or at least recognised the clues.

"Why?" she asked finally, after a long pause that he'd made no move to challenge. They still sat close to each other, without touching.

His gaze lifted, studying her face. He seemed braced for something, only she couldn't fathom what. "Why what?"

"Why me?"

"I don't know how to answer that, Rey. And if you ask why your chose me, then the truth is--" He breathed hard, making space for the admission. "I have no idea."

That had been the fear, she realised. He had been prepared for disgust, for a rejection, even though that couldn't possibly matter now. Not if she had already said yes in some obscured, strange future.

Rey found she couldn't work up any emotional reaction. The very idea seemed too vague and far away. But Ben's wary posture hadn't softened.

"You're good to her," she said, because she knew herself, and she had to believe that much was true.

"I would do anything for you," Ben said quietly. It wasn't quite romantic, the way he said it. Instead it bore the exact cadence of a threat.

Rey wasn't afraid. Another thought struck her. "Is the bond still…" She let the question trail off.

Her words seemed to make him angry. All traces of sentimentality vanished from his face as he snapped at her, voice rising. "I told you. There's no way to break it."

"You don't know that."

Ben shouted, and she flinched slightly as the cavern amplified the sound of his rage. "I know! I remember the last time you tried." Abruptly, he stood. "It doesn't matter. Let's keep going."

Rey looked around them at that, past the still corpse and at the cliff they'd come down. The thick cave wall behind her held no gaps that she could make out. "Go where? We've reached a dead end. We could retrace--"

"No." He cut her off, then lowered his voice in what was almost an apology. "She--you're close. I can feel it."

Rey sighed. Despite badly wanting to be rid of the bond, she was beginning to wish she'd never come into this place. "Fine. We'll look for a way through."

Ben nodded, looking around them. "Maybe it's not through." He looked down at the area they were standing on, then upwards, into the ceiling-less chasm. "Maybe we need to move in a different direction.

*

Kylo Ren did not ask Rey where they were headed. All the underground paths looked the same to him, but Rey moved rhythmically without pausing, as if following a compass. 

He couldn't help studying her as they moved. Her hair was longer than now, tied into braids that exposed the curve of her neck. If Rey knew he was staring, she said nothing.

Kylo Ren could make out the sound of rushing water long before they came upon it. When they reached the stone bank it was even wider than he'd expected. The swirling water glinted blackly in the darkness.

Rey made a face as she stared at it. "We'll have to cross that, I think."

"Can you swim?" He'd remembered, belatedly, that she was from a desert planet. 

She shot him an unimpressed glare. "Probably better than you, in that getup."

He glanced down at his heavy clothing and cloak. When he looked up again, Rey's gaze had drifted to the lightsaber hilt at his waist. The wrinkle of a frown appeared between her eyes.

He looked at her, leaving the question silent.

Instead of explaining, she looked past him, eyeing the roaring river. "Still, I'd rather not, in that. Look."

He turned to look. Further down the bank, dark stones rose above the surface of the water. They formed a crooked causeway to the other side. The surface of each was shiny and slick as the river coursed around them.

She went ahead of him, leaping and balancing easily, aided by the Force. He watched her crossing, struck by the grace of it. Only when she landed on the other side and waved a hand at him did he realise that he hadn't yet moved. 

"Ben!" Rey shouted, gesturing him towards her.

Kylo forced himself to shake off his haze. He stepped quickly, rushing from stone to stone. When he reached her side she smiled at him. It took him a moment to remember. The bright, gleaming smile was not for him, but for someone else. Someone he couldn't possibly be.

He strode past her, only to realise that the bank narrowed to a smooth, worn wall a few metres ahead of him. He turned around, frowning, looking up and then down the river.

"We must be going the wrong way." 

"We're not," Rey answered with an irritating certainty. "Look." She bent over the ground, lowering her hovertorch light so the glow spread out over the floor. When he knelt he could see what she was pointing at. Narrow grooves cut swirling designs across the floor. Each line was too precise to be natural, but Kylo couldn't see a pattern. He followed the closest set of lines to its end, trying to decipher the meaning.

Rey watched him. "Is it another puzzle? Like the one at the entrance."

That reminded him of something he'd been wondering. "I think so. How did you solve that one?"

"I guessed," she admitted, sounding embarrassed. "I assume your Rey did the same. How did you?"

"I knew the answer to the riddle. The snake and the krayt dragon. It's an old Dark Side fable." He ignored the faint face she made at that, as something caught his attention. His fingers caressed the stone at the juncture of two lines, and rubbed something rough. Definitely scorch marks. He pulled off his right glove to examine the depression. His fingers came away from the spot glinting with tiny grains of glass.

Rey was eyeing him with a faint thrum of concern now, and he realised that he'd brought his lightsaber up, holding it carelessly in his other hand. 

"Lightsaber marks," he explained. "And there are more, over here."

She didn't respond. Kylo looked up, and realised that Rey was still staring at his lightsaber.

"Rey?" he asked, voice soft.

She shook her head violently, as if clearing something away, before looking at him again. "I haven't seen that in a long time," she said.

He glanced into his cupped hand in surprise. "My lightsaber?"

"The lightsaber you made when you joined Snoke. You use a different one, now."

"My old one." Uselessly he tried to cover the small shock of fear that the idea brought him.

"No. You said you didn't know where the old one was. Though I didn't actually believe that."

"No. I would have known." He couldn't look at her any longer. "But I wouldn't have wanted to go back there."

She nodded. "You made a new one. Went looking for a perfect crystal, though it wasn't easy."

Like a newly graduated student at his uncle's ridiculous school. It seemed implausible. "And left behind the Dark Side," he said. 

Rey shrugged a little. "I don't really know how you see the Force now." It sounded oddly uncertain, as if it was something she was afraid to ask. The thought intrigued Kylo, but he didn't chase it. 

"But I did leave the First Order," he said.

"Yes."

That made some sense. He'd always known that he must outgrow his master's old dream, and the army that even now remained shaped around Snoke and everything he'd believed. It all seemed hollow in the wake of his death. Perhaps it had been the same when he'd been alive.

"I did all this so that you would accept me?" It had been tempting on the Supremacy for a fleeting second. The idea that he knew the right words to make her take his hand. 

A surprising wash of anger surged over Rey's features, her face turning faintly pink before it faded. "I sincerely hope not," she said sharply.

"Then what changed?"

Rey stared at him for a moment. "You did. Is that so hard to believe?"

It seemed impossibly terrifying. 

He turned back to the ground, changing the subject from his unlikely future. "It's just as well. No Lightsider weapon made this mark. It might not have worked." And still might not, but there was no more conversation to delay the attempt. He thumbed on his weapon, keeping his eyes from watching Rey's reaction as he did so, and plunged the blade downwards as deep as he could. 

The Force seemed all of a sudden to float up to meet him. The lines in the ground lit with a red glow, extending outwards from the glimmer of his lightsaber. The Dark Side radiated up from deep in the ground underneath his blade. As if it were calling him.

It was beguiling, telling him everything he wanted to hear. It always did.

"Ben?" Rey asked. Her voice sounded distant and faded to his ears, but he could still pick up a trace of concern. When he pulled his lightsaber free, the spot was still glowing red with slowly dissipating heat. 

The call still lured him closer. The ground beneath him felt like the lid to something that might open if only he had the key. Kylo ground his teeth, readying himself. He plunged bare fingers into the hole left by the blade of his lightsaber. The searing heat burned his fingers instantly, but he didn't pull away. He clung to the pain. Breathed in the Dark Side of the Force.

The moment in which he realised he was falling passed by in an instant. Rey's surprised eyes were in front of him. Kylo's hand shot out to reach for her, and bring her with him, wherever this door led.

For a moment she thought that she might not accept his offered hand. The Dark Side crackled around him, sharpened by his fear. She reached out, gripping tightly with slender, strong fingers. Let go, the dark Force beckoned.

Kylo held on. The world turned to dust around him.

*

He came back to awareness in the darkness. At some point during the fall, he realised, Rey must have lost her hovertorch. Everything around him was pitch black.

He reached out with the Force, trying to identify the borders of the new space. Rey was lying on top of him. The warm body and bright Force prescence couldn't have been anyone else. This close he could smell the clean salt scent of her skin.

"Rey?" He strove hard to keep any urgency out of his voice.

"I'm here." Her voice was gentle, and so close by.

"Are you--" he cleared his throat, stopping, then started again. "Are you hurt?"

Instead of answering, she seemed to be laughing. Her chest heaved against his, shoulders shuddering. 

"What?" Kylo demanded.

"Nothing. It's just that when we ran into each other, when you woke up, you said you'd started out the day by trying to kill me." She stretched out her hand, gently indicating the burned slash on his shoulder. "You wanted me dead?"

"No," he said, after a pause that dragged slightly too long. "But I wasn't thinking very well. When I realised why you must be here."

"Were you thinking at all?" Rey asked. Her words were noticeably pointed, yet something compassionate still lay beneath.

He flinched back from the accusation, shaking his head. "Perhaps I wasn't," he admitted, finally.

He hadn't let go of her hand since they fell. Rey made no attempt to pull away, and their clasped fingers sat between them. He could feel the faint, steady beating of her heart. 

He kissed her. Her face was so close, hovering next to his own. He only needed a fraction of movement to lift his head and close the gap between their mouths. Rey made a barely audible noise of surprise before her lips parted. He gasped, as his soft, curious kiss was stretched into a long, heady moment by the weight of her tongue against his.

He'd imagined kissing her, so often that he half-felt as if this was another fantasy. One that would vanish when he opened his eyes. Yet Rey was sweet-tasting, real and solid in his arms. When she pulled away for breath, it wasn't to offer him her familiar scorn.

Instead, Rey sounded worried. Perhaps she'd sensed his mind racing away. "Ben?" she asked.

"You're my wife. You said." He suddenly felt defensive. He'd wanted to know what kissing her would be like, but somehow the knowing was worse. And then, "Why?"

She hummed thoughtfully at that. "Why am I your wife?"

"Yes."

"Because I love you." Obviously, her tone added.

"In the future." He couldn't keep the tinge of disbelieving bitterness out of his words. He'd seen Rey's eyes just a few hours ago, dark and cold over the shimmering blade of her lightsaber. It seemed very unlikely that the future this spectre had walked out of was actually his own. 

Rey laughed again. He could feel her warm breath on his face. "No, you bantha brain. I--she loves you now."

He didn't believe the words. "She came here to separate us."

"I know. Did you ask her why?"

Kylo blinked into the darkness at that.

"You didn't," Rey concluded. "Try it. See what she says."

Before he could answer, Kylo's head snapped up at an unexpected noise. Something was moving, unseen. The whole floor shuddered. He gripped Rey's hand in case they were once more about to become untethered from the room, but realised after a moment that both of them were still in place. The motion was happening all around them, under the slow scraping noise of moving stone. He reached out with the Force, trying to find the source. 

Then blinked up. Rey's face was suddenly illuminated clearly. Somewhere a door had opened, bringing a weak halo of light into the darkened cave room.

*

They'd found a stone platform that had risen like an elevator and brought them through, but the victory hadn't improved Ben's mood. He had grown increasingly impatient as they walked. Now he was looking at the fresh rock barrier in front of him with barely disguised anger.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Rey asked, not for the first time.

Ben's entire focus was on this new wall. His bare hands ghosted over the impressions that dotted the uneven surface. Rey's eyes widened as she recognised another version of the first puzzle she'd encountered. This one seemed much more complicated, as a dozen glowing tiles stretched from left to right in front of them.

"She's here," Ben muttered, half to himself. "I just…I don't know this one."

Rey examined the images in front of them. A set of lines that seemed to indicate moving water. A pair of fangs that made Rey shiver, reminding her of the animal they'd just fought. Twined spheres could have been two suns, or a planet and a moon. Rey squinted at the other tiles, but couldn't recognise many of the rest.

Beside her, Ben was growing agitated. Rey placed a tentative hand on his arm, ignoring the surprised look that he gave her.

"I can do this," she said. "I think."

"How? You haven't studied the Dark Side."

"Doesn't seem like that's helping us right now anyway. I got through before, didn't I?"

"You--" Ben began.

Rey shushed him. "Quiet." 

She'd expected him to argue. Instead Ben obeyed, simply staring at her. His mouth drew into a tight line. Rey stared back at him, then closed her eyes, beginning to concentrate.

The first thing that she knew was that Ben was right. They were in the right place. She breathed in, inhaling the Force like air, and the slow wave of certainty washed over her. She could feel Kylo--her Ben--as surely as if they were bridged. The stone beneath her fingers seemed to grow warm. Rey skimmed the surface with her hands, tracing the sensation to its source. She pressed against the depression, then found another tile that seemed to beckon her to her left. Again, to her right.

When she opened her eyes again, Ben was staring at her, his eyes fixed to her face as if hypnotised. She couldn't decipher the expression he wore.

"Trust in the Force," Rey said, with a grin.

The stone began to shift and fracture, this time with shudders so strong that Rey thought the cave might start to crumble down around them. When the shaking stopped she was still on her feet, with Ben standing beside her.

The stones had exposed a wide, dark room. In the centre stood Kylo, and a mirror image of herself. Rey flashed back to the mirror she'd encountered under Ahch-To, holding back a shiver.

But this version looked nothing like a Force apparition. She was warm. Real. Beside her, Kylo was leaning forward, one hand on his lightsaber in a wary stance. Mirror-Rey stepped forward, smiling. 

"It's about time," she said. Rey realised that she wasn't talking to her. She was looking at Ben, her eyes suddenly lit with an affectionate fondness that Rey hardly recognised on her own face.

She looked over at Kylo. He was ignoring her doppelganger, looking straight at her instead. His eyebrows drew downwards as his gaze examined her from head to toe.

Pausing on the wrapped wrist, and then her ripped clothing. A thundercloud formed across his features. Kylo's grip tightened around his lightsaber, and he drew it from his belt.

"What did you do." His mouth barely moved, the words issuing from clenched teeth.

Ben drew his own lightsaber. The two glowing blades clashed as both men surged forward without hesitation.

"Stop it!" Rey shouted.

At the same time future-her stepped forward. Trustingly she stood beside the ignited red and blue blades, shooting irritated glares at each version of her husband in turn.

"He didn't do anything," she said to Kylo with certainty.

"He didn't hurt me," Rey said, but no one seemed to be listening to her.

"And you," future-Rey turned to Ben, "are being a dummy. Obviously you can't fight your past self."

Rey frowned at that. It was something she'd been trying not to think about in the pitch black of the tunnels, but now that they were all face to face the question seemed undeniable.

"How are you going to get back?" she asked.

All three heads turned to look at her. First Ben, then Kylo powered down their lightsabers. Kylo muttered noiselessly under his breath as he moved closer to her.

"Are you sure…" he asked, but Rey couldn't guess what the rest of the question was. _Are you sure you're okay_ , or _is this okay?_ She couldn't tell.

"How did the Force bring us here?" Future-Rey asked. She wore her hair in braids, Rey noticed for the first time, unlike any hairstyle Rey wore now. They were all tucked back from her face in a knot. "Do you know?"

Rey said, "We were fighting. I mean, he was trying to kill me."

"I was not trying to kill you," Ben murmured back in annoyance.

"Could have fooled me."

"If I'd been _trying_ \--"

"We were using the Force," Rey added, cutting him off. She put a hand on his, surprised when he subsided at the light touch without another word. "Together, but not really? I don't know."

"The Light and Dark Sides. It would make sense. Both the Jedi and the Sith worshiped this place."

"And this is the centre of it," Future-Rey said. "I can feel it, can't you?"

Rey could. The pressure from the Force was strongest here. Yet the energy that had seemed so malevolent earlier now seemed only curious. 

All four of them moved towards the altar at the back of the room, following the torch that shed light in front of them. Rey's future self climbed the half-dozen steps first. At the top she turned in a circle, looking around her. There were marks etched in the floor that Rey couldn't identify.

Ben stepped towards his wife. He extended his hands, palm forward. Future-Rey joined her palms to his, then his fingers curled around hers.

"May the Force be with you," Ben whispered. Whether he was nervous about channeling the Dark Side in this unknown place, or worried about being separated from her once again, Rey didn't know.

She could sense the tug on the Force immediately. Beside her, Kylo's brows knitted as he tracked the pull on both sides of the Force.

Ben's eyes were wide open, staring at the woman in front of him as if he were fearful of looking away. Rey's future self whispered something to her husband that Rey couldn't hear.

The Force swirled around them. Rey squinted her eyes, trying to focus. Both beings seemed to be fading, like a holotransmission with a weakened signal.

"Go along now," Rey's mother said, her words slurred and disinterested.

"Come here," Ben said. He was standing in the low light of the room they shared, half-dressed. The tone of the invitation seemed familiar…seductive? Rey felt a warmth spread over her that she hardly knew in her own body.

"The Jedi need to die," Luke Skywalker said, and she could see by his cool blue eyes that he meant it. 

"No one will understand," Ben said to her. "You know that, don't you?"

This time, the heat that rose in her was anger. "I don't care what anyone else thinks. Do you?"

Ben opened his mouth to answer.

"Mama!" Rey screamed. Her small voice broke. Her hands reached out, trying to hold on. The hand wrapped around her fragile upper arm yanked hard, lifting her clear off her feet. She was being carried somewhere, somewhere she didn't know--

"Rey!"

When she came back to herself, she was standing at the foot of the altar, trembling as if she'd been caught in the crosswinds of an oncoming storm. Kylo's right hand was wrapped around her arm, holding tight as he called her name.

"Ben?" Rey asked faintly. She opened her eyes. She found the platform in front of her empty. Rey's mind was drifting, still caught in the swirl of memories that had assaulted her. 

No. Not memories. Moments in time, unmoored and carried to her through the Force. Rey looked at Ben. He was slightly breathless, trying hard to school obvious worry from his face. Slowly, he peeled his fingers away from her arm.

"You were leaving," he said awkwardly, by way of explanation. 

"I saw my parents," Rey said, without meaning to say anything at all.

Kylo was quiet. He'd had his own visions, Rey suddenly knew with certainty. Instead of answering, he pointed to the platform. In the corner, almost invisible, sat a small multi-sided object. Rey stepped towards it, squinting down at the strange shape.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A holocron." He sounded reluctant to say more.

Rey's eyes widened. She picked it up. It was heavier than she'd expected for its small size. She examined the edges, finding it shut tightly. She closed her eyes, bringing all her focus to bear on the object.

"It doesn't work," Rey said in disappointment, when she opened her eyes again.

Kylo said nothing. He stared at her, his eyes burning on her skin.

"Oh! It needs both of us, doesn't it? Just like the traveling…stuff." Excited by the idea, she spoke too quickly, waving the cube at the mention of their future selves. "The Light and Dark Side. Working together." 

There was only silence for a moment. Kylo reached out, placing two fingers lightly on top of the holocron. But he did nothing further, simply considering it with a closed expression. His mouth pulled in unhappiness as he looked at her, their eyes meeting.

"Is the bond so terrible?" His voice was suddenly small, neary inaudible, as he seemed to force the question from his throat. "For you."

Rey found that she didn't know how to explain. "I cannot trust what the Force tells me. While we are connected." She remembered the sensation of connecting to him on Ahch-To, at once so distant and so close. Then the rush of absolute belief and trust that had guided her to the First Order fleet. Forced herself to admit, "It steered me wrong. Before."

"Is that what happened?" he asked her. Rey frowned at the odd question. Kylo asked, "What does it tell you?"

"You know."

"Yes," he agreed, after a moment.

She kissed him. She couldn't help it, and she knew from the first moment that their lips touch that he felt the same. That he'd been restraining himself, barely holding on, and now all that passion was like heat on her lips when his mouth met hers. Their mouths opened together. He grabbed her waist, pulling her to him. The holocron tumbled out of her hand.

Kylo was stumbling backwards, holding onto her as if his life depended on it, as if he didn't dare let go. There was an altar behind him, rising from the floor most of the way to his shoulders. Kylo rested most of his weight on it, tilting his head forward where Rey cradled his face with both hands. She took a breath, eyes searching his face, and then her warm, greedy mouth was on his again.

The moment was over far too soon. Rey pulled her mouth away. A familiar sadness washed over her.

A wounded, desperate sound escaped Ben's lips. Rey could feel herself shivering in his arms, but she couldn't seem to stop. She didn't move to disentangle herself from the embrace. Ben didn't move to let her go.

"Rey." His voice broke. Pleading.

She looked down at where the holocron lay on the ground at her feet. "We can't stay down here forever. My friends will be looking for me."

He scowled, hating the reminder of the outside world.

"I can't," he said. Leave the First Order. Leave the Dark Side. Leave everything behind. _Even for you._

"Yes, you can." She made the statement with the same clear-eyed certainty that she'd felt on Ahch-To, and could see in his eyes that he was still surprised by it. "But not for me. Because you don't need it anymore. What does the Force tell you?"

"Sometimes the Force tells us what we want to hear," Kylo said. 

Rey thought of his Snoke, so certain that he knew his apprentice's heart, and knew that Kylo was thinking the same. Even Rey had traveled to this planet just to separate herself from the worst of the Force's illusions.

Or perhaps they were simply message that neither of them knew how to read.

"Then trust yourself," Rey said. Knowing, as she said it, that it had always been the hardest leap for him to make.

That was clear, now. Ben Solo trusted his uncertain heart the least of all.

"Trust me. I'd never leave you." It wasn't quite a proposal.

"I know you wouldn't," Rey said, and that too wasn't quite a vow.

*

Kylo kissed Rey again. It was a weak attempt to delay the moment that he knew was slipping away, but she didn't protest, her lips parting under his.

"Ben," Rey said softly.

Blood was rushing in his ears. He'd said no the first time. If he said no again, he didn't know if either of them would be strong enough to ask again. Unspoken, the Force bond still lingered between them.

He couldn't be alone again.

The galaxy, or her. Suddenly, Kylo couldn't remember why the choice had seemed so difficult.

Couldn't remember anything, except the Force-glimpses of things that hadn't happened yet. Rey, in his future, looking at him just as she did now. Had she always? He didn't know.

"Slow down," the future-vision that was his wife said to him, and the memory lingered like the taste of her on his tongue.

_You're still holding on. Let go._

"Come with me," Rey said.

"I can't join the Resistance."

"No," she said, shaking her head forcefully. "Come with _me_."

He kissed her again, felt her breathing hopefully against him. He said, "Yes."

Through a crack in the rock, daylight filtered into the cave. They were close to the surface now. They climbed through. 

"Rey!" Rey's comms device awoke immediately. The worried voice of one of her friends came through in response to Rey's greeting. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Rey said.

Their chatter continued. "Did you find what you were looking for?" the distant voice asked.

Ben looked up at the sky, but he couldn't tell by the shifting sun how much time had passed. Maybe it had been hardly any time at all. Rey held his hand, not letting go.

END

**Author's Note:**

> they fight an attacking wild animal/Force manifestation, and the animal dies
> 
> *
> 
> thanks for reading, come say hi on [tumblr](https://sweeter-than.tumblr.com) or [dreamwidth](https://dirty-diana.dreamwidth.org)


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